As mobile devices improve and include more enhanced capabilities, mobile devices have evolved to act as Internet Protocol (IP) devices. In one such system, e.g., a system employing IP Multimedia services (IMS) sessions uses a traditional signaling or bearer architecture for a local media session. The traditional IMS session is created between a User Equipment (UE) and a remote end, thereby enabling the UE to access media flows. The session control signaling flow, extends between a Call Session Control Function (CSCF), a Service Centralization Continuity Application Server (SCC AS), and a Telephony Application Server (TAS) (and/or other application servers).
Generally, the CSCF processes session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling packets in the IMS system, and the application servers host and execute a variety of services. In one embodiment, the SCC AS operates in a Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA) mode wherein it acts as an SIP element to mediate SIP signaling between the UE and the remote end. The SCC AS establishes an access leg using IMS procedures between the SCC AS and the CSCF on the UE side and establishes a remote leg using IMS procedures to the CSCF 110 on the remote end 104 side. Other application servers may be executed on the remote leg as part of standard service execution logic at the CSCF.
The result of an IMS session established as discussed above is a media flow and a session control signaling flow established between the UE and the remote end. Unfortunately, however, the media flow and the session control signaling flow are tied to the same device, thereby not allowing the media flow to be sent to a different device or controlled by a different device. For example, if a user is interested in watching a video, current implementations require that the media flow, e.g., the video, be sent to the same device, e.g., a wireless telephone, as is controlling the video. Moreover, when a media flow is transferred to another device, both the session control signaling flow and the media flow are transferred to the same device. This situation is not always convenient or desired by the user, who may want to control the media flow via one device, but watch or control the video on a different device, such as a computer monitor or television.